Before you hire someone to help with your social media, ask this question: How have you kept up with the recent changes to (insert the name of the social media platform)?

Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and other social media sites are constantly changing. You want to hire someone who has an ongoing commitment to keeping current. Put their knowledge to the test. Have them explain the changes. The response should help define your selection criteria. It’s also a good chance to see how well the person can explain things to those who may not be experts.

Your potential marketing partner should also have different strategies for different social media platforms. What works on Twitter, may not work as effectively on Facebook.

If you are going to hire someone’s family or friends, you need to make sure that the expectations and deliverables are clearly understood. These should not be shared on a cocktail napkin or a post-it note. You need to treat it like an official transaction.

If you hire a family member or a friend, are you willing to fire that person if things go poorly?

You also need to be very careful of donors or board members who recommend their family or friends. If that person isn’t up to the task and the results are poor, then it can be very uncomfortable explaining this to one of your stakeholders.

I’m collaborating with Ellen Bristol of The Leaky Bucket Nonprofit Blog on a series of reports on nonprofits and social media. Ellen focuses on how nonprofits can manage and improve their fundraising performance, emphasizing strategic management, metrics, benchmarks and processes.

Why? Because as she says, too many nonprofits ignore the strategic stuff and focus on tactics. And when they do, fundraising suffers. Social media seems like a tactical issue, but when you look at it strategically, it can boost your fundraising performance in meaningful ways.

In today’s post, Ellen has added her thoughts to the end of each section, which I’ve put into italics.

Using Social Media Right, Part 2

4. Who Does the Work? Many nonprofits assign their social-media work to younger employees, assuming that since “young people” are more likely to use social media more than the rest of the staff, they’re “perfect” for the job. But experience may not equal expertise. Can the staffer oversee a multigenerational marketing and branding effort to increase awareness of your organization and raise money?Maybe your social media should be handled by a team including someone for content and someone else to post and link.

Ellen’s comment: Social-media tools may be easy to learn, but knowing how to use them doesn’t deliver the message. Make sure your social-media messages help to fulfill your fundraising strategy: are you attracting the right funders and getting the results you want.

5. Use Your Brochure and Other Existing Materials. Don’t reinvent the wheel when creating content. If you have good brochures or annual reports, why not share the information through other formats? Your supporters aren’t memorizing the copy, after all.

Take information from brochures or reports and break it down into bite-sized chunks. I’ve seen organizations get at least ten posts from one brochure.

Ellen’s comment: Several short posts that deliver related messages are more effective and drive a larger following, than the occasional huge post. Create a conversation with followers.

6. Be Quick. In the past you could wait weeks before you shared photos from an event in a newsletter. With social media, audiences expect it almost instantaneously. If you have an event, get some or all of your pictures posted within 24 hours. That may not be possible if you use a professional photographer; save those shots for the annual report and make sure someone on staff is taking candid shots as well. The shots may not be as nice but they can serve as a good appetizer for your post event coverage and appeals. Make sure that you tell people at the event where and when they’ll be able to find the photos.

You may also need to shift your view of perfection. Perfection is a worthy goal but it takes a long time. “Good” takes a lot less time.

Imagine that your nonprofit’s focus or main issue is being covered in the national news. You need to comment on it immediately and use it to introduce your organization to the community or reinforce your image. To execute, you need a streamlined approval process. This is not the time to forward an idea to a dozen people for approval. Think of the media coverage as your Super Bowl; you have to get your Super Bowl advertisement out as soon as possible.

Ellen’s comment: In fundraising, “getting it done” is often better than “getting it perfect.” People can even use “getting it perfect” as a way to delay doing the fundraising task at all. Set up and simplify your approval process ahead of time. Master the art of writing succinct copy quickly. These are strategic issues!

7. Share a Vision

Most people don’t know what you do or how you do it. They know you do good work but that’s about it. Take them into your world and let them feel your passion for your cause. People love “behind the scenes” features, where you get to find out how the magic is made. So profile some of your employees. How did they come to your organization? Tell us about the person who answers your phone. Have four or five questions that you ask each employee. Ditto for clients, donors and board members.

Make sure your employees, volunteers, and board members follow your posts. It’s not a bad idea to give them a fun quiz to make sure they are. They are your chief ambassadors, so they need to know what’s happening in your organization.

Engage your followers with questions and ask them to respond. Studies have found that only a very small percentage will likely respond but it’s important to make sure you’re having a dialogue and not a sermon.

Ellen’s comment: Not only does this tip help you build your following, it helps you and your insiders appreciate the true mission and impact of your nonprofit!

I’m collaborating with Ellen Bristol of The Leaky Bucket Nonprofit Blog on a series of reports on nonprofits and social media. Ellen focuses on how nonprofits can manage and improve their fundraising performance, emphasizing strategic management, metrics, benchmarks and processes.

Why? Because as she says, too many nonprofits ignore the strategic stuff and focus on tactics. And when they do, fundraising suffers. Social media seems like a tactical issue, but when you look at it strategically, it can boost your fundraising performance in meaningful ways.

In today’s post, Ellen has added her thoughts to the end of each section, which I’ve put into italics.

Using Social Media Right, Part 1

Social media can no longer be considered a fad or something only kids use. It’s been embraced by big business as a powerful way to connect with audiences. Your nonprofit needs to be part of this movement.

The danger is that you’ll jump in the pool without learning how to swim first, become frustrated, and swear off social media forever. Let’s make sure that tumbleweed won’t soon be rolling through your Facebook, YouTube and Twitter accounts. Follow these tips to maximize your investment in online marketing:

Ellen’s comment: If you’re not clear about your mission, your ideal funders, and the metrics you use for managing fundraising performance, your Social Media won’t build the following you want.

1. Don’t Expect Too Much, Too Soon. Social media is not a bright, shiny object that will instantly solve all of your problems. It is a cost effective way to build ongoing relationships with donors and prospects. Make a long term commitment to explore and use the various social media platforms. See what works and adjust your strategy accordingly. It’s hard to predict what may resonate with your audience, so don’t become frustrated if one appeal doesn’t work very well. Try something else.

While social media can lead to revenue (either directly or indirectly), it’s more like a slot machine than a weekly paycheck. Don’t let every post be an “ask.” Constantly begging people for money is a turnoff. Only one out of a dozen posts should have any mention of fundraising.

When you do have an appeal, focus it strictly on a specific program or issue. Don’t just say, “Give us money. We’ll do good stuff with it.” That’s something any nonprofit can say.

Ellen’s comment: It takes time to build a following and create a brand. Social Media will help you tell your story, your clients’ success stories, testimonials, musings, history, and so on. That stuff drives the motivation to give.

2. Be Consistent. Before you post anything, map out a schedule for social media interaction. Making a commitment doesn’t mean that it can’t be changed later but you need to have a plan. You don’t have to post something every day. It’s more important to make sure that your posts are informative to your followers. So when your posts appear, people know you’re worth reading.

You may also want to consider having a theme for your posts. Maybe, it’s something like, “Fact Friday” or “Snapshot Tuesday.” The idea is to train your readers to expect some predictable good content.

3. Think Visual. It can be tempting to use a lot of words in your updates. Resist the urge. People like to scan social media sites rather than do extensive reading. That’s why pictures can be so valuable to your online campaign. Find a good picture that represents your organization’s mission, or take good pictures of your clients, activities or events. Add a caption to it if you have photo editing software or just put the caption in the social media site’s update window.

This is your chance to be creative and conversational. You could say something like, “This is why we don’t mind working late,” or “Challenging times never go on vacation.” The goal is to stop people and make them think.

Pictures can be unusual as well. For instance, can a weekly donation of a small amount of money (like 96 cents = $50/year) make a difference to your nonprofit? Lay out the money and take a picture of it. You get extra credit if you can put the coins in a creative shape.

Ellen’s comment: Your case for support is always stronger when you tell your story, stronger still when you SHOW it. That’s how to build relationships with supporters, donors and clients.

I get tired of seeing nonprofits post the same old kind of pictures of clients, volunteers, and board members. You gather up a bunch of people, force them to line up in an orderly fashion, and just as they’re tired of the whole endeavor, you take a picture that’s worthy of the Department of Motor Vehicles.

While I know these shots are necessary for recognition purposes, do they make you want to stop and find out more? After a while, you consider them to be nothing more than visual noise.

As you might guess, this defeats the purpose of the picture! Now look at the snapshot below:

There’s an energy to it that makes you smile. You want to find out more and you have to admit that these volunteers look like a fun group. The personalities came out.

Just a moment before, I covered my bases by taking a traditional shot of the group. (I’d show it to you but it was so boring that I deleted it.)

Then I told the group that on the count of three I wanted them to say, “hooray.” I also said that it okay if they wanted to gesture as they said it.

The group did a great job of making a memorable photo. Give your subjects some guidance and then let them have some fun.

Bonus tip: I stood on a chair while taking this picture. This makes it a lot easier to see the people who are in the back rows.